Behind the Book
Pictures from my research for Whatever It Takes.
Wimington, NC plays an important role in both the historical and modern-day storyline. Here’s a picture of the riverwalk. Everly and Ivy met here a couple of times.
The Wilmington riverwalk.
The Wilmington riverwalk.
What a Civil War soldier might carry in his (or her!) bag.
There’s a reference in the modern-day storyline to these acai bowls in Wilmington. Yum!
It was so fun to see this steamboat in Wilmington. It’s named after the main character in the historical storyline. Go, Henrietta! Way to leave your mark. Haha!
Roustabouts would have loaded and unloaded barrels like these.
What a general store in Wilmington might have looked like in Henrietta’s day.
A diorama of the Wilmington riverfront near Henrietta’s time.
Wilmington has a lovely history museum. Here’s what the riverfront might have looked like in Henrietta’s day.
A glimpse into what the Wilmington riverfront looked like in Henrietta’s day.
Historical Wilmington.
Gettysburg, facing the peach orchard. Henrietta might have stood in this very spot.
The Peach Orchard where Henrietta fought.
Gettysburg.
Henrietta was part of the 18th Mississippi, in Barksdale’s division. She would have been here.
A statue recognizing the Mississippi troops.
Couldn’t go to Gettysburg and not take a picture with Abe Lincoln.
Whatever it Takes includes the Battle of Fredricksburg.
The stone wall Henrietta (and Catch) fought behind.
The famous stone wall.
You can see where bullets penetrated the Innis House on the Fredericksburg Battlefild.
More bullet holes.
This shows the city of Fredricksburg. The Union built pontoon bridges to cross the river.
The Ebert House and Store along the sunken road in Feredericksburg.
This monument honors Richard Kirkland. At the age of 19, he helped his enemy Union soldiers by providing them with water during the two days following the Battle of Fredericksburg. He risked his life to do so, earning him the title The “Angel of Marye’s Heights”.
This large brick house at the top of the hill on the Fredericksburg battlefield served as the headquarters for the Washington Artillery, then later as a hospital for Union soldiers. It was heavily fired upon.
Henrietta and her family lived just outside of Warsaw, NC.
The small town of Warsaw.
Warsaw, NC.
Because the railroad ran through Warsaw, it became a target during the war. Here, Union forces destroyed two rail cars, a freight house of Confederate stores, about 4,000 barrels of resin and turpentine, and some gun powder. They took 150 head of livestock, several bags of mail, and 30 prisoners with them when they left. About 400 Black men, women and children followed them. On their way out, they burned a barn containing hundreds of pounds of bacon. The air smelled of it for days afterward.
The Duplin County Veteran’s Memorial Museum is located in Warsaw.
While writing Whatever It Takes, I underwent much of the process Everly did. We adopted an embryo. (Two actually. The first didn’t take.) I underwent the medical testing, estrogen pills, progesterone shots, and embryo implantation. We also had the incredibly long 10-day wait to see if it took.